. afterwards the secretarytoldpentagonworkersthe united states must lead with its allies. he says he believes the military is a force for good and that he is committed to equal benefits for all service members. secretary hagel also touched on those looming budget cuts calling them a reality we need to figure out. those cuts also a top priority for the nation's next treasury secretary. the senate voted about two hours ago to confirm the former white house chief of staff jack lew to that position. is he now set to succeed tim geithner. lew is the former white house budget director and prior to that he was an exec at citigroup. some republicans had criticized lew over compensation the bank gave him during a time when taxpayers bailed the bank out but today 20 republicans voted for him. the final tally 71 to 26. all that despite a squiggly thing he calls a signature. the president is speaking, giving remarks at the business council dinner at the park hyatt in washington. he expected to urge congress to compromise to replace the sequester, the name for that thing they have given this thin

.thepentagondidan investigation into those emails. basically cleared him of any wrongdoing. none the less, i'm told tonight from a source close to general allen he didn't really want any of this messy business to coming up in a confirmation hearing before the senate. i'm also told the white house proximate pushed him aside. when i whether or not they pushed him out, they basically pointed me to comments today by defense secretary lay on panetta who did praise general allen but never said he he wanted him to be renominated be the supreme allied commander in europe. then he went on to to say this that basically suggested it was up to general allen whether he was going to step aside. take lafn. >> my recommendation to him was take your time. you know, be with your family. think about what you need to do. i think your country will always find a way to make use of your great services. but you have got to make the decision as to what you want to do in the future. >> now, the president has obviously gotten john kerry confirmed as secretary of state. his cia director potentially john brennan hit som